Little Brown Toads

[Cynere]

Yep, some flies have emerged. I received a replacement culture today as well, it arrived right side up. There are a few flies in the first culture but shaking them out produces globules of food sludge too. I think letting them both sit for a while might be good. I was sent a springtail culture as well as a nice gesture, I am not entirely sure what survived the trip - I imagine we'll see.

I'm still hunting aphids, tiny worms and other crawlies every day for them. They are starting to not be very excited about aphids; I can only find the black ones that don't move a whole lot. They still relish the tiny black ants the accompany the aphids though. Sadly, these ants are too tiny to pick up. I end up feeding them by picking plant tendrils and dropping the leaf and tendril in the tank. Obviously some of the toadlets are fatter than others. They are picky little things.

They really enjoyed the couple flies I dumped in there but I don't want to ruin any chances of the cultures doing well by feeding the whole, small adult population.

[Cynere]

Fly cultures are doing okay I think, I am excited about them blooming. My little toadlets are turning away from aphids. They are starting to be interested in my hand and tweezers. I don't feed them from the tweezers, just use them to move flies closer to the skinnier ones or pick up little bits of debris.

The question of environment comes up. Right now I have them on paper towels and they are pooping for sure - lots of poop. When should I move them to something that doesn't foul so easily? I am out of paper towels today. And what? I have read some on soil, and the expandable eco-earth substrate. Should I include a layer of gravel or a simple false bottom if I intend to include plants?

Another question is that I have nine toadlets and a 10 gallon aquarium. I am unsure exactly what kind of toad they are but it isn't out of the question for them all to grow to 3 inches. I also need to make a two week long trip in August during which I don't believe that I can enlist anyone trustworthy to feed and water my toads. I cannot take them with me either. I have two options, I think.
1) Release them outside to feed themselves so they don't have to suffer at my hands.
2) Recreate a natural environment for them before I go with multiplying species of janitorial bugs and microfauna, add the fly cultures to the tank (so that the adults can escape but the frogs can't get in the culture) then hope that nature works as well inside my tank as it does outside. I am still considering how to make sure their water supply is clean enough.

When I acquired tadpoles, I did not have this trip planned. I think maybe covering the tank with pantyhose would be better than a glass top, I don't want to fog them out. Right now I have the tank only partially covered with plastic. The AC runs here pretty much off an on all day and the house stays 77-78 degrees with occasional highs of 88. Any suggestions are welcome. These are my first toads/frogs ever and I think I am enjoying the experience a lot. If I could keep them, that would be my preference but I don't want to harm them either. I would choose releasing them over keeping them in a place where their needs are not met.

[Cynere]

Well, today I released 5 toadlets to our untreated garden where they immediately started eating ants. The toadlets still hate my guts so I imagine they will do fine. The other four I have kept, these are the fattest and biggest toads of the lot. They are happily munching down on flies. I figure four is a lot easier to maintain than nine; they eat a lot of food. I will be collecting supplies to set up a more natural environment for them soon. I have picked up a brick of eco earth and am sourcing some organic potting soil.



These are the final four. The water bowl overflowed some after a toad and a leaf broke the suface tension.